A piece of Yesterday
by asterisque
Summary: The first words he saw were, 'My name is Aeris Gainsborough. I have green eyes and long brown hair...Who am I? Your average flower girl, or maybe not... This was my story......' Cloud might've found her diary... But will he ever find her?... -CloudAeris-


**A/N: Heya. This is my first shot at a final fantasy fanfic. I am a HUGE fan of Cloud/Aeris! Anyways...this is just a one-shot for this pairing.**

**This is set after FFVII and after the movie FF7:Advent Children. (If you haven't seen that movie some stuff in here might not make sense)**

**I feel that the song _"Somewhere" by Within Temptation_ is one of the best for Clerith! **

**I dedicated this one-shot to my friend Dawn! I'm so happy you like this pairing too!**

**I do not own FFVII or "Within Temptation - Somewhere" . Anyways enjoy!**

* * *

_**Lost in the darkness  
Hoping for a sign  
**__**Instead theres only silence...**_

* * *

-

He was at her church. Slowly, gloved fingers picked up the small book under the mess of ruins and blooming flowers.

An abrupt ache jolted in his chest as he saw the little, ruined brown book. His fingeres gingerly crept to the first page and flipped it open…

Cerulean eyes saddened as he saw the words on the crumbled paper. The inked words were fading and smeared and the pages frail, but he could clearly make out the writing and words in the book, to him, it was screaming out…

The writing…

It belonged to her…

_'Aeris…'_

And the first words he saw were…

_My name is Aeris Gainsborough…_

_-_

_-_

_-_

Unable to tear his curious orbs away from the book, he sat comfortably on a boulder and read the words in, what appeared to be Aeris's memoirs…

It seemed to have been written just recently…or at least before she died, but _after_ she met him…

-

-

-

_My name is Aeris Gainsborough._

_And this is my life…_

_I have green eyes and long brown hair tied in a braid with pink ribbons. _

_I like to wear my long pink dress under a red mini-jacket along with my brown hiking boots._

_I will admit not exactly the strongest person in my group, far from it, but I can attack with my staff. While I'm not that strong I am still helpful! Healing and helping out my friends is good enough for me. You could say I'm somewhat like a white mage. _

_Who am I?_

_You average flower girl, or maybe not._

_My parents were Gast and Ifalna. My mother was the last full-blooded Cetra, that is our ancient tribe, and her researcher was my father, it was inevitable when they fell in love, I was born within two years later. I don't remember much about my father, this is because he was murdered when my family was attacked by Shinra's soldiers, just when I was only twenty days old. They captured me and my mom for professor Hojo, to further his research. _

_Me and my mother were with him for sevens years, when my mother escaped the Shinra headquarters in Midgar, of course, taking me with her. We fled as far as the train station in Sector 7 slums, before my fading mum entrusted me to the care of Elmyra Gainsborough, a childless widow._

_Both my parents had passed away before I was eight._

-

Cloud read the first few pages of the book, then flipped the pages. He wanted to just scan the book before he decided to read it all…

-

_My Cetra heritage began to take its place. It revealed in various ways, most with the ability to hear souls of the dead wandering the planet. _

_At first I was uncomfortable with these abilities and refused to acknowledge them or my ancestry. Throughout the rest of my early life, I am a constant target of Shinra, who were seeking to recover me, as the last Cetra. _

_-_

His hands carefully flicked more pages…

-

_At the age of sixteen I met Zack! He is the one I developed feelings for while he was in Midgar. Eventually my feelings for him grew and turned into…_

_-_

The blonde man quickly turned the pages when he saw that name. It wasn't that he hated Zack. Hell, they were like best friends! He just didn't want to read about her love for Zack at that moment.

He was more anxious to read about…something else…

-

_During the next fives years, after I met Zack, I helped my adopted mother with our livelihood by growing and selling flowers…_

_That's when the name 'Flower girl' for me came in._

_-_

Cloud was about to flip over the page…when something caught his eye…

That something was him name…

-

_That's when the name 'Flower girl' for me came in…That was also where I had first met _him.

_And for that reason I will never forget that day._

_Who is he?_

_His name is Cloud Strife._

_One of the most attractive young man, I have ever seen in my life. _

-

He slightly smirked at what she wrote.

-

_I bumped into him when he was fleeing from something or other._

_The first conversation we had was about some flowers I was selling that day…_

_-_

_I tried to my best to live normal life despite numerous kidnapping attempts. I had to hide continually at a local derelict church which is a great hideaway from the havoc of the outside world. To me, it's the only place where flowers are able to grow in Midgar…_

-

Cloud was slightly disappointed that only one sentence was about him. Well, it was hardly a sentence about him now that he thought about it.

_'There has to be more…'_

He turned get again a few more pages…

-

_I saw him again today!!_

_Cloud!_

_He was at my church! But he wasn't alone…_

_At first I was worried about being captured by the Reno who is one of the Turks. I asked one of the mercenary to be my bodyguard for the cost of one date; I had no choice but to accept._

_- _

And he too, remembered that day. Cloud read on…

-

…_Once again I was saved by Cloud and his crew. I soon later decided to join them in the pursuit of malevolent Sephiroth as well as a chance for self-discovery._

_I seem to be the 'optimistic' one in the journey. Although I seem innocent, in reality I am much less naïve then I let on. But let's make that out little secret. _

_Sometimes I remember the times I would show my coyer side around Cloud, who I can be openly flirtatious with. _

_At first I didn't know the reasons for my actions._

_Maybe because I thought he seemed a lot like Zack?_

_They were best friends. _

_Well, anyways, this was when my story really began. _

_-_

He felt a pang in his heart. _'She liked me because I'm like Zack?'_ He was slightly angered as he read the last few sentences. If that's was why she…

His hands made more pages flew past.

-

_Cloud really is a mystery to me. This feeling I have for him, I can't seem to explain it. Truthfully I simply thought it was a mutual attraction to him because he was so much like Zack. _

_Later on I realized…_

_They most definitely are two different people…_

…

_I remember this one time, when we were in Gondola. Cloud and I were on a, somewhat date, you could say. That was when I openly admitted to him that I wanted to know the real him…_

_I remember saying to him…"…first off, it bothered me you looked alike. Two completely different people, but look exactly the same. The way you walk, gesture…I think I must have seen him again, in you…"_

_He didn't respond, so I continued. _

"_But you're different...Things are different…" I gave a smile. "Cloud…I'm searching for you…"_

_He was still silent after. He looked rather speechless really._

"_I want to meet you." That last sentence I said got something out of him._

"_But I'm right here." He said. Well I guess, he wasn't one for metaphors. _

"_I know, I know…What I mean is…I want to meet…_you_…" _

_-_

Yeah. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. Slowly his hands began to clench. It had been nearly three years since that day, and only a few months since the last time he saw her, when she had told him he needed not her forgiveness but his own for her and Zack's death.

**"_I want to be forgiven…"_**

_**She giggled. "By who?" she asked.**_

He would never forget that moment. That moment he realized, he needed to forgive himself…or the moment when he last saw her, when she healed him in the waters…or the moment when their hands touch, the electricity between them was too great, a bright glittery blue light emitted from their grasp as she pulled him up for the final attack.

-

_He somehow had some similarities to my first love. Even so, his looks, his personality and voice weren't similar. That's why he was so mysterious to me._

_But it didn't matter. I love him much more than my first love._

-

Cloud felt his heart clench at the very sentence. That feeling had come back to him. That feeling to being alone flooded his systems. He nearly stopped reading all together…but the memories of her were the one thing he will never be able to ignore.

-

_I couldn't figure out the truth. My thoughts just went around in circles. Whenever I thought about it, memories only showed his individuality. The way he acted. The way he walked. I remembered his actions one by one, and it was his blonde hair and deep pools of cerulean that I always saw…_

* * *

**_Never stop hoping  
Until you know where you are  
But one thing's for sure  
You're always in my heart_**

_

* * *

_

That was enough for cloud. He gently closed to book shut. He couldn't read it anymore. The more he read it, the more he felt that pain and agony in his chest he seemed to never be able to escape when he thought about her.

He missed her. He missed her presence. He missed her voice, smile and laughter. He couldn't deny it any longer... the fact that he fucking missed her so damn much!

That's when the inevitable happened…

Slowly, one by one, small crystallized drops descended from his eyes.

Cloud Strife was crying…

He couldn't stop the salty tears that stained his cheeks, from gliding along the flesh of his face. His eyes were shut tight. He clenched his jaw as hard as he could.

--

Before long a bright light streamed through the corridors of the opened church, from the luminosity a shadow of a woman was seen walking towards the weeping man.

The woman reached the man and crouched down, her face still blinded by the light.

Cloud didn't seem affected by the light nor did it seem like he saw it. His eyes remained closed until…

_'You found my diary, I see…crybaby.'_ she joked.

The brown haired women sat down next to him.

He heard the familiar, melodious and soothing voice in his head. His eyes snapped opened. He saw nothing there. More specifically he didn't see her there… he closed his eyes again.

_'Yeah. Is that you?'_ he asked in his mind.

_'Who else can it be?'_ she laughed, replying in his mind.

_'I can't see you…'_ He spoke softly, almost desperately.

_'But… I can see you. I'm right next to you…'_ She put a hand on his shoulders, to confirm she really was there.

_'…I felt it…'_ he felt a sudden jolt on his shoulders._ 'I miss you...'_

_'I know.'_ She got up.

_'…' he didn't know what to say._ He then felt something warm caressing his cheeks, as if they were wiping his tears away.

_'Aeris…'_ he breathed out her name._ '…you know? I feel the same way about…'_

_'Shhh… I know.'_ she hushed him, and made her way to on his lap. She nuzzled her face in the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist.

_

* * *

_

**_Lost in the darkness  
Tried to find your way home  
I want to embrace you  
And never let you go _**

_

* * *

_

He tensed up when he felt her soft body on his. Then with his eyes still shut, he relaxed and eased into her welcoming arms and salvaged the warmth that radiated from her invisible body.

_'I will always be here with you, Cloud. So, I don't want to see those tears ever again. You hear?'_ she playfully warned.

A smile adorned Clouds lips. A genuine smile, one which he rarely wore and only when she was around. He looked at the fragile book in his hands…

_'I won't ever forget it…'_

_-_

_-_

_-_

_At that moment..._

_-_

_-_

_-_

_...Nothing else could have been more perfect._

_-_

_-_

_

* * *

_

_**I'll find you somewhere  
I'll keep on trying  
Until my dying day** _

_

* * *

_

_-_

_-_

_"I'll see you in the promised land..."_

_-_

_-_

_-_

_

* * *

_

**_A/N: This was only roughly edited. Okay so how was it? I know there's not as much Cloud/Aeris fans as Cloud/tifa fans but mehh. Please tell me what ya think in a review!:D_**

**_PLEASE ADD TO ANY CLERIS C2s!_**


End file.
